Crosswalks that work and that don’t work: Harvard St. @ Green (Brookline) versus Route 9 @ Norfolk or Dunster

Harvard St.
is a two-way street without median barrier. Each direction only has one travel
lane.There are one parking lane and one
bicycle lane on each side. The functionality of Harvard St. is collector road. Traffic
volume is around 800 veh/h. Green Street is a one-way street shared with
bicycle and one parking lane on one side. It is a local street. From the
picture below we can see the area is mixed commercial and residential use
together. The intended users are commuters and shoppers.

The speed
limit of Harvard St. is 30 mph. The width of Harvard St. is around 48 feet.
Pedestrian generally take 10 sec to cross the street.Pedestrian volume is 500 ped/h around noon
time (See the video below). The important thing is that the pedestrian volume
is kind of high around this area, which forms pedestrian priority in the
crosswalk. There is a pedestrian yield sign placed in the center of the road to
alert driver to slow down. Thus, driver’s expectation is to slow down in this
area to yield pedestrians who are walking on the crosswalk.

Moreover,
there is no left turn permitted. This rule simplifies the traffic flow and
reduces the conflict of pedestrian and turning vehicles. Moreover, the number of travel lanes merges
from two lanes to one lane from Beacon Street. This reduction physically forces
drives to slow speed.Based on all these
factors, this crosswalk does work well for all of pedestrian, bicyclists, and
motorists.

Background

Route 9 is a
two-way street with median barrier. Each direction has two travel lanes. The
speed limit of Route 9 is 40 along this section. The function of Route 9 is
mobility. Dunster Rd. is a two-way local street without lane line. Its function
is accessibility. The traffic volume ranges from 2000 veh/h during noon time. The
intended user of this crosswalk is the local residents.

This
intersection is two-way stop control in Dunster Rd.The width of Route 9 is around 56 feet. Some
vehicles are parking along two sides of this route. Here the road is straight.
Driver’s expectation on speed is very high along this section. Pedestrian
volume is close to zero during most time of the day and high traffic volume.
Thus, under most conditions, pedestrian should yield fast vehicles. It takes
around 10 seconds to cross Route 9 but it may take around 20 min for a
pedestrian to find accessible gap to cross the street, which is very
inconvenient for pedestrian and can cause some safety issue because of the high
speed.

Conclusions:

The two
crosswalks do work for two different intended users. The pedestrian volume is
high at Harvard St. @ green thus vehicles are designed to yield to pedestrian.
And the pedestrian volume is close to zero at Route 9 @ Dunster . Some
recommendations could be used for the crosswalk at Route 9 @ Dunster to improve
pedestrian safety.

·Install push button pedestrian signal.

·Sharktooth yield bars can be added before the
crosswalk.

·Soft (thermoplastic) rumble
strips can be added to alert motorists of an approaching “stop” or “slow down”
ahead.